"Kakashi-sensei? A-are you okay?" Sakura's voice came again, still nervous.
She and Sasuke were thoroughly shaken by Kakashi's sudden reaction, but they still didn't understand.
The scene looked so ordinary, so warm—why was he so rattled?
Kakashi didn't answer.
He just kept staring at the screen, repeating to himself that none of this was normal. Not even close.
Sasuke watched Kakashi's rare loss of composure, then looked back at the screen's painfully bright domestic warmth. A complicated shadow crossed his eyes.
Old fragments, buried deep in memory—time with his parents, those fleeting moments of warmth…
And the man responsible.
Hatred churned coldly in his chest.
…
Onscreen, dream-Naruto finally shook off some of his confusion.
The bright living room…
The mouthwatering smell of food…
And that red-haired woman in the kitchen…
Everything was so real it didn't feel like a dream.
Warm sunlight poured in, bathing his face. It felt gentle, like a hand.
He could even smell the sweet soy glaze on meat; his stomach growled loudly.
Where… am I? It smells so good… wasn't I asleep?
The red-haired woman urged again, "Naruto, what are you spacing out for? Wash your hands! Food's gonna get cold!"
Her voice carried that "mom-in-charge" authority, yet strangely held a gentleness and indulgence Naruto had never known.
"Mom…"
The word slipped out of Naruto's mouth before he could stop it.
He clapped a hand over his lips, eyes wide.
I—did I just call her Mom?!
Even he understood now.
The hot, joyful treatment on the street… this warm home… this red-haired woman who felt impossibly close…
"So… this is my dream?!" he whispered.
"And this red-haired lady… she's my mom in the dream?!"
A flood of emotion—bitter, sweet, violent, overwhelming—blew his thoughts apart.
Mom.
He… he was seeing Mom in a dream.
He didn't know what his mother looked like, not really. But the feeling she gave him—
It was Mom. It had to be.
That deep, soul-level closeness, the blood calling to blood… that couldn't be wrong.
Naruto's nose burned. His eyes instantly filled.
Twelve years.
For twelve years he'd dreamed, imagined, sketched his parents in his mind, wanting a home like other kids, wanting a dad and mom.
And now—
This scene he'd wanted for twelve years was actually here, in his dream.
Even if it was just a dream…
In this moment, Naruto would trade anything for it not to end.
"W-wah… yeah! I'm coming, Mom!"
Head full of sobs, he nodded hard, wiped his tears, and still grinned like a sunbeam through it all.
He shouted back and dashed toward the washroom, clumsy with joy.
[Ding! Naruto Uzumaki's emotional fluctuation detected! Emotion Points +2500!]
At that, Sakura and Sasuke fell silent again.
Sakura couldn't help muttering, "It's just dinner… does he really have to… react like that?"
To her, being called to eat by your mom was the most normal thing in the world.
But before she could say more, Sasuke snapped coldly, his voice laced with the kind of anger she'd never heard from him:
"What do you know?!"
"E-eh?!" Sakura flinched, staring at him in hurt confusion. "Sa-Sasuke-kun… I…"
She didn't understand why he was suddenly angry at her.
Had she said something wrong?
[Ding! Sasuke Uchiha's emotional fluctuation detected! Emotion Points +500!]
[Ding! Sakura Haruno's emotional fluctuation detected! Emotion Points +200!]
Sasuke didn't look at her again. He just fixed his eyes on the screen, on the blond idiot crying from a single "dinner's ready," while a faint glimmer—like the one he'd seen in Naruto at the ramen shop earlier—flickered in his pupils.
Maybe among the three viewers, only Sasuke truly understood Naruto right now.
Because Sasuke had once had that warmth.
And because he'd once had it, he knew exactly how much losing it hurt.
Kakashi watched the two students beside him and sighed again, deeper this time.
Sakura had grown up with both parents alive, with a warm, intact family. At most she sometimes found them annoying.
At this age she was in that rebellious phase, craving independence. Of course she couldn't understand how these "ordinary family moments" were anything but routine.
To Naruto, to Sasuke, she could never truly feel it.
But this warmth that was almost painful to watch… how could it not stab at him too?
…Forget it.
…
Onscreen, the happy dream continued.
Naruto washed his hands and rushed to the table, staring at a full spread of delicious food, drooling like he'd never eaten in years.
Just as he was about to grab his chopsticks—
click.
The front door opened.
A tall, broad-shouldered man stepped in, wearing Konoha's classic green jonin flak jacket. He had the same radiant blond hair as Naruto, and those same clear sky-blue eyes, gentle and bright. A warm smile rested on his lips like spring sunlight.
"Am I late?" he asked softly.
Kushina, at the kitchen doorway, laughed. "Not at all. Perfect timing. Go wash your hands and eat. I made Naruto's favorites today to celebrate him becoming a genin—stewed pork and fried chicken!"
The man nodded, then looked toward the small blond boy staring at him in shock. His eyes were full of love and pride.
"Naruto, congratulations. You've finally become a real ninja. Dad is proud of you."
…
In the screening hall—
If seeing Kushina had shocked Kakashi to the core—
Then seeing this man felt like a hand crushing his heart. He couldn't even breathe.
"Mi… Minato-sensei?!"
That sun-bright figure, the legendary Yellow Flash of Konoha, the prodigy who became Fourth Hokage young, Kakashi's most revered teacher—
Wave after wave of disbelief crashed through him.
Minato-sensei was here too.
In Naruto's dream.
As his father.
Not just Kushina-senpai—
Minato-sensei as well…
What in the world…?!
[Ding! Kakashi Hatake's emotional fluctuation detected! Emotion Points +1000!]
And this time it wasn't just Kakashi.
Sakura and Sasuke, seeing the man's face clearly, both widened their eyes in pure shock.
"T-that is…" Sakura's voice trembled.
"The Fourth Hokage?!" Sasuke blurted.
As top students, they knew Konoha's history—especially the Hokage—by heart.
The statue on the Hokage Rock.
The portraits in textbooks.
The heroic legends whispered in the village.
The blond man walking into Naruto's "home" was unmistakably the man who'd ended the Third Great Ninja War almost single-handedly and died protecting the village—
The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
"W-why would Naruto's dream dad be the Fourth Hokage?!" Sakura felt her brain short-circuit. "Could it be… could Naruto actually…?"
An absurd, impossible thought that somehow explained everything crept into her mind.
[Ding! Sakura Haruno's emotional fluctuation detected! Emotion Points +200!]
Kakashi stayed silent, face grim to the extreme.
He knew why, of course.
But that secret involved Naruto's life—
and Konoha's stability—
a highest-level classified matter.
Those two kids could not learn it here.
But then—
What was this dream trying to do?
What did it want?!
-------
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